Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • The Damned - Evil Spirits about 12 hours ago
  • Slug - HiggledyPiggledy about 13 hours ago
  • Christina Vantzou - No. 4 2 days ago
  • The Fangasm: The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit 2 days ago
  • Laura Veirs - The Lookout 3 days ago
  • Eels - The Deconstruction 3 days ago
  • A Place To Bury Strangers - Pinned 3 days ago
  • "I am fascinated by art that asks a lot of questions": DiS Meets Jenny Wilson 3 days ago
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

The Candies

Dense Waves Make Your Eyes Wider

Label: Suiteside Release Date: 27/01/2003

domgourlay by Dom Gourlay February 3rd, 2003

There seems to be a renaissance going on in other parts of the world (particularly the US* of *A) for all things 1979, with the likes of Interpol, Radio 4, and (cough…splutter) The Strokes all releasing records that leave the listener without any doubt as to what, when, where or who influenced their way of thinking.

Now it’s the turn of the Italians to join in with the homage and do you know what, they may have just come up with the best album out of all of ‘em.

The Candies are currently an unknown proposition in the UK, having formed at the tail end of 1996 and spent the rest of the time touring every inch of Europe except here, but with ‘Dense Waves Make Your Eyes Wider’, it won’t be long before the rest of the world sit up and take notice.

Opening number ‘Like Tennis Shoes’ bears more than a passing resemblance to Wire’s ‘Three Girl Rhumba’, while vocalist Giulio Calvino’s sarcastic snarl harks back to Andy Partridge’s less than quaint approach during XTC’s formative years.

‘Hiding Behind Open Space Barriers’ moves between Gang Of Four’s quirky experimental agit-pop and Pavement’s ‘My First Mine’ lo-fi/punk/squawk/quasi-punk “trying out” stage before they settled on defining a genre combining all four “movements” and called it post-rock.

‘Being Together’ is possibly the most terrifyingly frantic love song that’s ever been committed to disc, building up for the big climax then…SPURT!!! ‘Device Power’ on the other hand is strikingly similar to Magazine’s ‘Shot By Both Sides’ yet Calvino’s vocal identifies it as something else entirely - unique.

Although there are many comparisons with the past on ‘Dense Waves Make Your Eyes Wider’ (and I haven’t even mentioned the bass on ‘You Fly While Driving’ giving me the same goose bumps I got from hearing The Cure’s ‘1015 Saturday Night' for the first time), The Candies have simply used their influences to map out the future, and while many of their contemporaries seem to be wallowing in some older brother’s record collection-led nostalgia trip, The Candies are simply leading the way forward.

  • 8
    Dom Gourlay's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • The Damned

    Evil Spirits


  • Slug

    HiggledyPiggledy


  • Christina Vantzou

    No. 4


  • The Fangasm: The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit


  • Laura Veirs

    The Lookout


  • Eels

    The Deconstruction



Left-arrow

Seachange, Saint Joan, Baptiste, Tempertwig at Junktion 7, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Sat 01 Feb

Mobback

The Vines at Camden Electric Ballroom, Camden, Thu 19 Feb

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    review


    The Damned - Evil Spirits

  • 105536
  • review


    Slug - HiggledyPiggledy

  • 105535

    review


    Christina Vantzou - No. 4

  • 105534
  • Column


    The Fangasm: The Midnight Organ Fight by Fright...

  • 105533

    review


    Laura Veirs - The Lookout

  • 105532
  • review


    Eels - The Deconstruction

  • 105531

    review


    A Place To Bury Strangers - Pinned

  • 105530
  • Interview


    "I am fascinated by art that asks a lot of ques...

  • 105529
MORE


    feature


    A Month in Records: August 2008

  • 33467
  • review


    Coldplay - Ghost Stories

  • 95631

    review


    Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

  • 7335
  • feature


    Cursive - Six Recorded Highlights

  • 45147

    review


    Sonic Youth - Nurse

  • 6044
  • review


    Kate Nash - Made Of Bricks

  • 26283

    DiScover


    DiScover: Friendly Fires

  • 93726
  • news


    DiS curates the #IndependentMusicMonday Playlist

  • 101788
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2018 DROWNED IN SOUND